VG Cats Ashes
by DELTA2FOUR
Summary: When Leo and Areis are short on their rent, they are forced to rent out their extra room. A guy with a disturbing background comes and he stays with them.
1. Ashes Chapter one

**Well, here we are again. After reading reviews and suggestions I have decided to rewrite the first chapter of my story. I'm actually happy because I was originally planning on going back and changing the original story by adding and taking out some stuff. I was also going to change the chapter title. Big thanks to XanderN and MintyFishbowl for your reviews and suggestions. Thanks to all of the others who reviewed as well. I will copy and paste some of the original story… so ummm… yeah. Here we go.**

Chapter I Ashes

It was probably the coldest day in Toronto in maybe 15 years. The snow didn't gracefully fall from the sky, maybe a flake every now and then. No this was near a blizzard. Or as close as you get to one without there being a tremendous amount of wind. There was no one on the street except for one guy. He looked pretty cold since he wore only a hoodie and a pair of cargo pants. However his chin was warm because of his really bushy goatee. He looked up and chuckled to himself, looking at the falling snow. He had only seen snow twice in his life, because where he was from it never snowed often. It wasn't until just now he realized that snow looked like ash falling from the sky.

He had a cigarette in his mouth and was smoking it quickly. He remembered the first time he smoked which is when he was 6, ever since then he couldn't quit. When he got done with the cigarette he lifted his right leg to put it out, but then he quickly lost his balance. As he stumbled across the pavement he sat down and took out his backpack and reviewed the contents. He had several bottles of pills, a giant file with about 100 papers in it, some money, and a few changes of clothes, some cigarettes, and a little black zipper bag with a few syringes in it, each filled with a clear liquid.

He began to remember how he got to Canada in the first place. About 3 months ago he lived with his father in America. He hated his dad. He was a drunk and abused him often, most of the time for no reason. He would hit him and slap him around almost constantly while his mother did nothing to prevent it. He loved his mother with all his heart even though she didn't do anything to prevent the beatings. But she did comfort him afterwards. The boy has mixed feelings with her, damning her for not helping but loving her for being there and being his only friend.

It was the same old story until one day he "mouthed off" to his dad and he stabbed him in the leg with a rusty knife. He landed on the floor screaming in pain. His dad made him stay on the floor for 3 hours to make sure he had learned his lesson. It wasn't until his mother had enough and rushed him to the hospital. When he got there the doctors told them that the rusty knife has killed part of his muscle and that it would have to be removed. But during surgery they slipped up and cut too much muscle off and ever since then he has been in agonizing pain.

Somedays were better than others and the pills that they gave him worked for awhile but soon they barely took off the edge. Learning about an experimental test in Canada that could restore muscle, he fled to Toronto in search for it. But by the time he got there they learned that the experimental drugs gave patients tumors so it was shut down.

Knowing he couldn't return home because of his father, he searched for a place to live in Canada. Sure he was going to miss his mother, but it would just be too difficult for him to return. So far his search for a place to live has been effortless. Since he didn't have a credit card no hotel would take him. And he didn't like hotels; they just didn't have a home feeling to them.

He got off of the street and began walking towards an alley that he might be able to spend the night in so he could start his search in the morning. However something caught his eye. It was a flyer; it said "Room for rent, $275 a month. Pleasant Hills Apartments, room 627". His heart quickly jumped and he unzipped his backpack and began to count his money. $350. _Hot damn_ he thought to himself._ Time to find this apartment…_

Elsewhere…

"I can't believe you got that Leo" Aeris said as she smacked herself on the forehead as they were walking away from GameStop. "It's just a recycled version of Modern Warfare 2. You're paying 60 dollars for an update".

Leo looked over at her with a slight grin on his face. "Hey it's not your money, and besides why does everyone say that? People buy Madden every year even though it's almost the same thing." Leo replied with a giant smirk on his face now.

Aeris, getting more pissed off yelled "Yeah! But I don't play Madden cause sports games suck! I can stand the n00btubes, I can stand the campers, hell I can even stand the 12 year old kids screaming into the mic and talking shit. But when you expect me to pay $60 bucks for a new campaign and a few new game modes, that's just too much."

"You think any game where you can't play as an elf sucks"

Leo bent over to clutch his chest because he was laughing so hard. When he looked back up at Aeris, all he saw was a fist flying towards him. POW! It caused him to immediately fall to his knees in pain.

"Now that's funny", Aeris said, chuckling to herself.

"No that was mean and not necessary"

"You would think from being with me for all of these years that you would have learned by now"

"That what? You're a mean bitch" Leo replied saying the last couple of words a little quieter and under his breath.

"WHAT!" Aeris almost screamed.

_Shit she heard that part._ Leo thought. He quickly got up and ran back to home, with an enraged Aeris right behind him.

He was running with Aeris right behind him, when he was in the hallway outside of their room when he noticed a man standing outside of their door. Leo stopped dead in his tracks, causing Aeris to crash into him.

"The fuck?" Aeris muttered to Leo while she was rubbing her head.

"There's a man outside of our room. It looks likes he's waiting for us something. I wonder what he wants."

"I don't know, but we won't find out anything sitting here with our thumbs up our ass."

"Maybe his here to take you away from beating me all of the time."

"Yeah, somehow I doubt that"

Looking at him it seemed like he never shaved. Like ever. His sideburns were really scruffy and he had a really hairy goatee. He was wearing almost all black, save his shoes which were red. When he noticed the two cats walking towards his direction, he quickly straightened up and walked towards them.

"Hey, are you two the ones who live in apartment 627? I found your flyer and I was hoping I could bunk with y'all for a little bit."

Aeris didn't respond at first, but she was rather inspecting him. She had noticed a minute ago that he was a human, which she didn't care for much. But she also noticed that his accent was off. He was probably from the States, more towards the south she guessed.

"Yes we live here", She finally responded. "I assume that you have a job and can pay for rent?"  
>"Well I don't have a job yet. Funny story I actually came from the States bec-" He stopped his sentence short seeing clearly that she wasn't interested. "Anyways, I don't have a job but I do have this month's rent." He pulled out the money from his backpack. "Its actually $350 but just keep the change, think of it as a thank you"<p>

"Alright" She responded, not feeling at all guilty for taking the extra money. "Just one thing, you're not like a sadistic rapist or anything like that right?"

He laughed, "No that's my brother, Michael". With that the two cats gave him an odd look and started to back up a little bit. "I'm just kidding, I don't have a brother."

"Very funny" Aeris responded with a sarcastic and annoyed tone. "What's your name by the way?"

The question caught the man off guard. "My names…uh…Sam" He said hesitantly.

"Wow! Cool! Like Sam Fisher?" Leo said with enthusiasm.

"Uhhhh, yeah I guess." Sam responded

Aeris let out a deep sigh and dug into her pockets to retrieve her keys. She unlocked the door and Leo ran through both of them and quickly turned on his Xbox to play his new game.

"Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree is he?" Sam asked while scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, you have no idea." Aeris said back jokingly.

**Well, there you have it. It took me a while to think of a new way for them to all meet. I hope y'all find this one better because I sure do. I do think the whole finding the stranger on the street is getting a bit repetitive now. Thanks and Review.**


	2. Origins Chapter two

Well, here's chapter two. Some vulgar language in this chapter, so be aware.

Chapter II Origins

Sam and Aeris walked into the apartment together. Sam noticed that for an apartment, it was pretty big. When you first walked in you were in the kitchen and a little after that was the living room. From there was a hallway that led to the bathroom and bedrooms he guessed.

Aeris sat he keys on the table while Sam walked past her to see what Leo was doing on the TV She had noticed that walked with a slight limp and that he was rubbing his right thigh. _I wonder what his story is._ She thought, but she realized that she was just too tired to give a fuck.

"Alright" Aeris started, "First things first, I'm Aeris and the retard over there is Leo." Sam tried to hold out his hand to shake it but withdrew it knowing that that wasn't going to happen. Leo just ignored the insult, being too busy with his new game. "Now then, your room is the last one on the right. There is some furniture in there but nothing fancy. If you want to bring your own stuff then fell free."

"Nah, it should be fine." Sam said back, still rubbing his leg. He turned around to head to 'his' room when he heard a slight *thunk* along with some rattling. "Shit…" He muttered to himself.

He quickly turned around to notice one of his pill bottles on the ground almost directly beneath Aeris' feet. _Shit my backpack must have a hole on it._

He jumped to try to get it but Aeris beat him to it. She had better reflexes then he did (you know, her being a cat and all that shit).

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Aeris said as she was inspected the bottle. Sam jumped towards her trying to get the bottle back, but Aeris held him in place by holding her hand on his forehead, preventing him from moving forward.

"Give it back Aeris" Sam said irritated, "I'm not beneath hitting a girl"

"Oh shut up" And with that, she slammed him up against the kitchen counter, causing his mouth to bleed and for him to fall on the ground in pain.

"Well…" She started back up again. "Says here your name isn't Sam, that your name is actually Marcus Bish. Well I can certainly see why you would lie about you name, seeing as how fucking retarded it is"

Marcus, sitting on the ground had remembered all the times in school he had been teased about his name.

**Marcus' Middle School, about 8 years ago.**

"Marcus Bish. Or should I say Marcus Bitch!"

Marcus turned around to notice Tim pointing at him and laughing. Marcus hated Tim; it's not even that he made fun of his name all day. It was mostly the fact that…it wasn't funny anymore. You can only hear the same joke for so long until it sucks.

"Really fucking cleaver!" Marcus shouted back, "How long were you up writing that? Till 2? No I doubt that, cause if you were, you would have heard me fucking your mom stupid."

"The fuck did you just say to me?"

"You heard me. Your. Mom. Got. Fucked. Retarded. Last. Night."

"Wow, that's a good one. Too bad it sucks."

"So does your face"

By now Tim had had enough; he rushed over to Marcus and punched him in the nose. Marcus fell down holding his now bloody nose. He jumped back up, but before he could do anything the teachers came and stopped it. _Damn it _Marcus thought aloud.

"Awww! Your nose is all bloody! Maybe next time you won't mess with the best." Tim said while being escorted away by a teacher.

Marcus rolled his eyes at his very lame joke and shouted back. "HEY! Don't worry about my nose. I'm just going to plug it up with some of your mom's pubic hair!"

Marcus enjoyed looking at Tim jumping around everywhere trying to get to him. _Hehehe…but I won the war_ Marcus thought grinning. _Actually, I really didn't since I'm the one with the bloody nose. But fuck it._

Marcus sat quietly in the principle's office waiting for his mom to pick him up. He had gotten 4 days OSS for his little 'stunt' he had pulled. _A new record._ But to his surprise she didn't come. It was actually his grandfather that had come. _Sweet! I'm in the clear! _

**Marcus (POV)**

My granddad kicks ass. He was really nice and funny as well. He wasn't much of a looker and I can't really describe him cause it's been a while but he's an old person and I'm sure we all know what they look like. I walked to his car and in the passenger side was his best friend. Ben, I think that's what his name was. From what I've heard, mostly by listening in on their conversions, they had been friends ever since they were kids. And now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen one without the other.

Anyway my granddad drops me off at my house and looks at it with disgust. He probably hates my dad more then I do. I think it's the whole 'father disappointed in son' routine. He has asked me several times if I wanted to live with him but I refuse. I just couldn't do that to my mom.

**Present General (POV)**

Marcus silently laughs to himself as he remembers his grandfather.

"And another thing" Aeris continued "There are a lot of pills in here. What are you a junkie or some shit? Or do you sell them?"

"Neither" Marcus replied back calmly, his mouth still bleeding. "Now quit being a bitch and give me back my meds."

Nothing happened for the longest time. Well it was really 5 seconds but it felt like 5 minutes. Leo, having heard that part in the conversion, paused his game and silently took a few steps backwards till he eventually couldn't back up anymore. Marcus instantly knew that that wasn't probably the best choice of words.

Aeris' eye was twitching, which reminded Marcus of the song 'Eye of the Tiger'. He silently started humming it to himself but was cut off by Aeris approaching him. "What did you just call me?" She said calmly, but with a hint of raising anger in her voice.

"I…called you a…a….bi-..bitch" Marcus, said while looking down like a child that just knocked over an expensive vase. He was about to stand up, but was cut off by the taste of Aeris' shoe in his mouth. After she had kicked him, she pulled him up by his neck and looked him in the eyes. _Man does she look pissed, _Marcus thought

"Alright, you're new here, so I'm going to lay down a few rules. Rule one; don't call me a bitch ever again. Or next time, Leo will be out back digging a hole for you."

Marcus looked over at Leo for confirmation. Leo nodded at him. _Damn it_ Marcus thought.

"Rule two, don't even try to hit me, cause that's a fight you're going to lose." And with that, she dropped Marcus on the ground and began to walk away, leaving the pill bottle on the counter.

"I've been here for 5 minutes and I think I'm already getting a concussion" Marcus mumbled as he got up and began to walk towards the living room where Leo had resumed his game.

"Wait a week and you'll be in a coma." Leo quickly retorted. Marcus and Leo both laughed hysterically. Aeris turned around and gave both of them a death stare. Marcus held up his hands and started walking backwards in a 'we are backing off' fashion.

"Keep it up wise ass" Aeris said just before entering her room.

"Man she is a bitch" Marcus whispered to Leo.

"Such a fucking bitch" Leo whispered back.

They both laughed and high-five'd each other. Marcus went back to the kitchen to grab his pills and then he was off to bed.

**There's chapter II. Hope y'all like. Review**


	3. Disturbing Revelations Chapter three

**First off let me start off by saying, I know what y'all are thinking. Where are Leo and Aeris? Not in the sense that they aren't in the story but that the story seems to revolve more around Marcus. Well let me just say that I will have more of them later on. But these early chapters mostly serve as background for Marcus. And with that I bring you chapter three.**

Chapter III Disturbing Revelations

Marcus woke up hyperventilating, having another nightmare of his father_. If I ever see him again, I WILL kill him_, he silently vowed to himself. He put on some pants and popped his neck and his back a few times. He sat back down on the bed and dug out his bottle of pills. He put 4 in his mouth, twice of what was recommended on the label, and swallowed them without any water. "Time to start my fucking day" He said aloud. He left the bag on his bed and left his room.

In the living room, he saw Leo playing MW3 again and Aeris looking at some bills at the kitchen table, looking up every now and then to see Leo rage about someone n00btubing or camping online. Marcus walked towards the kitchen when he was greeted by a much more cheerful Aeris; happier then she was last night.

"Morning Marcus." She said after taking a sip of coffee and bringing it back down to the table.

"Uh? Morning? You seem to be in a little bit of a better mood then you were last night." Marcus replied genuinely curious.

"Yeah, you caught me at a bad time last night. I got a new pair of shoes ruined earlier that day and not to mention HE didn't help either." She said, motioning towards Leo.

"Ah" Marcus said back, as if it explained for almost beating the shit out of him earlier last night. _I will never understand why girls can flip out over the stupidest shit. _

"Anyways" Aeris continued. "There's coffee in the kitchen if you want any."

Marcus walked into the kitchen and grabbed a mug from the cabinet, taking her up on her offer. He poured it in and drank it straight black. He finished his cup and was about to get another cup when he heard Leo drop the biggest F-BOMB he had probably ever heard.

"God damn it!" Leo shouted at the TV, not talking to anyone because his mic wasn't plugged in. "I swear if I get shot in the back one more time I swear to god I'll flip. And what's this crap about them designing the maps to where you can't camp because you definitely can. And don't even get me started with Elite!"

"Someone is raging pretty hard" Aeris muttered to herself, quietly enough so Leo couldn't hear but loud to where Marcus could hear, to which he laughed to himself.

"You wanna give it a try?" Leo said hearing Marcus laughing at his little episode.

"Eh…sure. I guess" Marcus replied. He sat his mug on the table and picked up the Xbox controller. He started to play and much to Leo and Aeris' surprise, he was actually pretty good. He was going 30-4 on Team Deathmatch.

"How did you get so good?" Leo asked as Marcus handed back the controller.

"Well I played MW2 and they're pretty much the same." Marcus told him.

After he said that, Aeris almost spit out her coffee and started to laugh uncontrollably. She clutched her sides and started to roll on the ground laughing until she couldn't breathe and she had to stop laughing in order to catch her breath.

"Shut up. They're not the same. You have no Idea what you're talking about." Leo got up and said, his face getting slightly red.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that." Marcus quickly retorted, not meaning to hurt Leo's feelings, and Aeris laughing probably didn't help. "There both games in the same series so of course they are going to be similar."

"Oh, alright." Leo said back. Accepting Marcus' sort-of apology. "Anyways, you wanna do some split screen?"  
>"Sure"<br>Leo started a versus match and to no one's surprise, Marcus had a trump lead on Leo, almost a whole 30 kills in front of him. The game was the first to 75 and Marcus was rounding 60 when his leg started to hurt, more then usual, as if someone was ripping and tearing at it. _Damn it not again._ He tried to ignore it but it was too excruciating. His whole mind was focused on his leg.

"Come on man, I'm kicking your ass. Are you even trying?" Leo asked. Marcus almost totally ignored the question. All he could think about was his leg. His face got red and he started to sweat, as well as his hands shaking.

"Dang" Leo said looking at the frustrated Marcus. "I was only kidding; it's just a game calm down."

Marcus finally couldn't take it anymore. The pain had broke him, much like it has many times before. "AERIS!" He yelled. "I need you to go into my room and get my backpack."

"Do I get a please?" She asked back in a joking tone.

"GOD DAMN IT! NOT NOW!" He almost screamed back. Aeris was caught off guard by Marcus losing his temper. She got up and went to his room to get his bag and was curious as to what was so damn important. She walked back out and threw it to Marcus, who unzipped it and dumped its contents all over the coffee table that was in between the TV and the couch. Papers and bottles went everywhere while Marcus brushed them aside and grabbed a little black zipper bag. He unzipped it and took out a syringe. He inspected it and put it back on the table while he took off his pants to reveal only his boxers underneath.

"What the hell are you doing?" Leo asked him curiously. Marcus though ignored his question once again. He pulled his boxer leg up to reveal a huge disfiguring scar on his right thigh, where it looked like someone had cut out an entire chunk of his muscle the size of a fist.

"My god. What the hell happened?" Aeris asked. But once again Marcus ignored it, concentrating solely on his leg. He picked up the syringe again, he pushed on the muscle around his scar each time his finger sinking into his leg like it would a normal person. He pushed all around his leg until he stopped on one spot where he couldn't push down on it. He pushed in the syringe it that spot and pushed the plunger down and started to rub the area. He sighed with relief and put the syringe back into the bag.

Aeris, seeing he had calmed down a bit, asked her question again. Marcus looked at his leg and tried to think of something to say.

"I… when I was young I went hunting with some friends and I accidently got shot at." Marcus explained, his face getting red a bit. "Sometimes my leg will freeze up and I will have to put medicine in it to make it 'work' again"

Aeris looked at his eyes and thought to herself_. I know that look. It's the look of torment. Torment that comes from bottling up a lie. That's not the truth, I know it, but maybe the truth lies within all of those papers he had in his bag. _The papers which were all over the table by now.

Aeris' curiosity got the better of her and she rushed over to help him 'pick up' his papers. He grabbed her by her wrist and simply said "I got it". He put his pants back on and put everything back into his bag and returned the bag to his room.

There was a silence for about 2 minutes until Aeris spoke up. "We're about to go to the grocery store to get some food, you wanna come with?" She said motioning towards the door.

"Sure, I have nothing better to do." Marcus said. He walked back to his room to get a pack of cigarettes and his hoodie. He turned off the light and locked the door as Leo and Aeris walked out in front of him.

**There's chapter 3. Like I said earlier, I do plan on having story involving Leo and Aeris a lot more but it might take a while. Review.**


	4. Priorities Chapter four

**Well let me start off by first saying that, yes it does seem that I am bashing a lot on Modern Warfare 3, but it's just satire. I actually LOVE that game. So please no fanboy wars in the review section. Anywho, here's chapter four.**

Chapter IV Priorities

As soon as Marcus got out of the apartment complex he noticed one thing. Canada was mighty cold in November, Christ almighty it was cold. _I'm going to need warmer clothes_ he thought to himself. As he stepped on the sidewalk, he almost slipped and busted his ass.

"Looks like the roads are iced over" Aeris said, observing the icy streets. "We are gonna have to leg it. And besides, it's a beautiful day outside so some fresh air wouldn't kill us."

"I'm not quite sure 'beautiful' would be the word I would use to describe it." Marcus said back, not at all used to the ridiculously cold weather that the Great White North had to offer.

"And why is that?"  
>"Are you joking me? Its colder than a witches titty in a brass bra out here!"<p>

"Where are you from again" Leo asked, because for Canada in November, this was actually pretty warm.

"I'm from the south in the States." Replied Marcus.

"Which state?"

"Georgia"

"Which one is that?"

"It's the one with a lot of peaches and peanuts."

"Oh" Leo said back, now knowing of the place he was talking about. "Ah, yes the 'Deep South'"

"HA! Yeah that's what some people may call it" After that, Marcus pulled out his pack of cigarettes and began to light one but was cut off by Aeris.

"I didn't know you smoked" She said interested

"What, you didn't notice the pack that fell out onto the table when I was looking for my black bag?"

"No. I was actually too distracted by you ripping off your pants and you shoving a needle in your leg."

"Hmmm. Alright I'll give you that one." Marcus brought up a black Zippo and lit his cigarette. Leo noticed that the words 'DELTA 2 FOUR' were carved into it on both sides.

"What's with the carving on the side of your lighter?" Leo asked excitedly.

"Oh, that's from m-" Marcus was explaining but was cut off by Leo trying to guess.

"Were you in the Army?"

"What?"

"Were you part of a task force?"

"Was I, an 18 year old, in the Army and in a task force?"

"Uh huh" Leo was rapidly nodding his head.

"No. I wasn't, it's my Xbox live gamertag. You play too many video games Leo."

"Damn Leo" Aeris started, "That's the dumbest thing I've heard all day, and only 10 in the morning."

Leo shrugged off the insult, well used to it by now. They all three were walking to the store when something interesting caught Marcus' eye. It was a flyer saying. "Band member needed. Singer and song writer. Will pay. Interested? Go to the Toronto Concert House." _Hmmm. It seems kind of interesting how all of my problems so far are being solved by flyers. _He took off the flyer and shoved it in his pocket, thinking to himself how he might have just gotten a job. About the time he finished his cigarette, they were at the store. As they walked in, Aeris held up her hand, indicating for them to stop.

"Alright, since we don't have the car, we're just getting something for dinner tonight." She started to explain. "Is spaghetti alright with you two?"

Leo and Marcus both nod their heads excitedly. "Where are the buggies in this store?" Marcus asked.

"What the hell's a buggie?" Aeris asked not having a clue what he was talking about.

"What are you serious? The thing you push around the store and you put your crap in"

"You mean a cart?"

"Whatever the hell you call them up here."

"Well, I'm sorry you've got too much grits in the corner of your mouth so you can't say 'cart'"

"AYE! You leave the grits out of this,"

"Whatever besides you're getting one thing, you won't need one. Ok, well I will get the sauce and the meat. Marcus, you get the noodles."

"Aye-aye Captain" Marcus shouted and saluted her.

"Don't ever do that again. And Leo… uh just get some snacks for the house."

"Aye-aye Captain" He shouted, imitating what Marcus just did.

"See what you've started?" Aeris said while sighing and face palming herself. Marcus laughed and they all went their separate ways.

Marcus went to get noodles but before he would do that he wanted to write a letter to his grandfather, so he needed to get some envelopes_, if they still exist_, he also needed some shampoo, cause by now he was probably beginning to look homeless. He found envelopes and shampoo with little effort and grabbed some noodles when out of the corner of his eye he spotted Leo with a 'cart' FILLED with nothing but Mountain Dew and Doritos, looking for Aeris.

_Oh this ought to be good_. Marcus thought with a smile on his face. He silently followed Leo while keeping his distance and waited as Leo approached Aeris.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Aeris exclaimed.

"Snacks" Leo replied calmly, not seeing what he did wrong.

"Ok, you're gonna have to put all of that back"

"Why?"

"Well several reasons: One, we don't have the car so we would have to carry all of that back to the apartment. Two, because I'm pretty sure you're getting all of this just for the Double XP, seeing as how every single one of them is marked with it. And third, because if you consume all of this then you'll get kidney failure and I don't have enough money to put you on dialysis."

Leo looked down and began to push the cart back to put all of the stuff back. Marcus then noticed that Aeris was smiling to herself as Leo walked away. _Hmmm_… he thought to himself.

They all met up neat the front of the store, everyone with the carrying the item they were supposed to buy. Leo brought a couple of boxes of poptarts.

"Poptarts eh?" Marcus asked. "Can't go wrong with that."

Leo smiled and they all walked out of the store and went home. They all ate poptarts for breakfast and the rest of the day was filled with Marcus and Leo playing MW3 and Aeris getting dinner ready.

Five o'clock rolled around when Aeris announced that dinner was ready and the boys turned off the Xbox and went to get dinner. They sat down, with plates already in front of them. Marcus immediately dug in and unfortunately regretted it. _My God! How do you F' Up spaghetti this bad? _But he swallowed it and forced a smile on his face. "It's good" He said, trying not to break.

"MMMM! This is great Aeris!" Leo said, with some noodle still hanging out of his mouth.

"Thanks guys." Aeris replied, looking at Leo though because she was pretty sure Marcus was full of shit.

Marcus strained himself to eat the rest of it, and then he stood up and said he was getting a shower. Normally Aeris would have protested and said since she cooked that he has to clean but stopped herself as she realized that a perfect opportunity had presented itself.

"Alright" She said.

As Marcus walked in the bathroom, she smirked to herself and thought to herself _time to see what's on those papers…_

**OH DAMN! She gonna be reading his shit! HA! Well chapter 4 is done. Review.**_  
><em>


	5. Answers Chapter five

**Dear lord, TWO chapters in one day? Man, y'all benefit from me not having a social life. (HA jk)  
>Anyways, after this chapter I will involve Aeris and Leo a lot more in the story. But I got to put these kinds of chapters in or else the end of the story won't make any sense at all. Also this chapter might not be as long as the others, it's mostly here for informative purposes and to progress the story.<strong>

Chapter V Answers

Marcus just stood there in the shower, letting the scorching water hit him. He didn't flinch at all from the water, mostly because of him being almost high on his pills. He felt the hot water work wonders on his leg, the cold weather certainly didn't help. He turned down the hot water to wash his hair when he looked around and realized that he forgot the shampoo in his room. _Damn it, better dry off a bit and go get it._

**Five minutes earlier…**

Aeris tiptoed to the bathroom door to make sure that Marcus was actually in the shower_. Running water… good. Now I better do this fast_. She quietly stepped towards his room, one foot at a time. She grabbed the door knob and slowly turned it, creeping into the room she noticed a figure going through Marcus' backpack. She panicked and slowly walked toward the stranger. But when she realized who it was she let out a sigh of relief.

"What are you doing in here Leo?" She asked accusingly.

"Oh crap! Please don't tell Marcus! I was just so curious about what is up with his leg."

"Ah, I see that I'm not the only person who thought he was full of shit. I must say, I wouldn't expect to see you going through someone else's things like this. Huh, what's this feeling I'm getting deep down inside of me?"

"Is it that time of the month?"

"No I was going to say it was pride. But never mind, just like that its gone. Scoot over."

Leo walked to his side and Aeris was now looking through his files. Everything she expected was here, medical history, prescriptions, a psych evaluation, everything. Aeris was scanning through his documents, taking mental notes of what the real story probably was. _Knife wound…rust…removing muscle in order to save leg._

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing" A voice rang out from behind her.

Aeris froze; the voice was too deep to be Leo's. _Shit_… She turned around to reveal Marcus with a towel around his waist giving her an evil glare.

"It wasn't me!" She cried. "Leo was in here and I was trying to get him out."

"What the fuck!" Leo yelled at her. "No it was her, she is the one going through them right now."

"Damn are y'all really that curious about my past? That you would go through my entire medical history?" Marcus asked, astonished that they would go to such lengths, well actually he expected it from Aeris but not from Leo.

Leo and Aeris both nodded shamefully. "Very well, let me get some clothes on and I will tell all about it." Marcus walked into his room, forgetting that he still needed to get the shampoo. The cats walked out and waited in the kitchen for him.

"You think he's going to tell the truth?" Leo asked Aeris

"Probably, but I did pick up a little bit of his story in the papers, so if he's full of it I'll call him out on it." Aeris answered back, eager to hear his story. Just then Marcus' door opened up, with a pack of smokes in his hand he motioned for them to go outside so he could smoke.

When outside, Marcus told them the whole story. About his abusive and alcoholic father, about how his dad stabbed him in the leg causing him to lose muscles in his thigh, about how he went to Canada for an experimental drug to help grow muscle back and the fact he wanted to get away from his dad. When Marcus finished, Leo looked at Aeris for confirmation, to which she nodded back at him.

"Shit that sucks." Leo said in a concerned voice.

Aeris walked towards him, about to slap the shit out of him, but stopped when Marcus said, "Yeah, it does, but hey what are you going to do? I'm away from him now so I can begin a new life. A fresh beginning."

"A fresh beginning? I think I saw that on a tampon box once." Leo said back with a smirk.

All three started to laugh at Leo's very immature joke. Marcus stopped laughing and coughed a little while covering his mouth. _Damn it… blood… yeah I'm not going to tell them about that._

Marcus' mind quickly flashed back to his files. Lung cancer. He had it; smoking for about 12 years nonstop will do that to you. He remembered the doctors visit, 'nothing we can do' and 'make you as comfortable as possible'. He turned them down; he refused to live out the last months of his life in a bed. And not to mention he probably couldn't afford it.

He shrugged off the thought and spat out the blood when the two of them weren't looking. They all went back to the room. Aeris and Leo, now content with themselves, suggested they all play MW3.

"Thanks but no thanks" Marcus said, refusing their offer, "I'm gonna write a letter to my grandfather, if the old bastard is still alive that is." Marcus laughed by himself while Leo looked at him strangely, a little concerned with his dark sense of humor.

"What you gonna write to him about?" Leo finally spoke up.

"Eh, probably the whole 'what's up' and 'have not seen you in while' spiel."

**That's chapter 5, talk about bomb shells. Like I said before, I will have Leo and Aeris much more involved in the next chapter. Thanks for everyone leaving reviews and for your patience. **


	6. The Best Laid Plans Chapter six

**No author notes, just enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter VI The Best-Laid Plans

Marcus finished his letter, quickly reading through it and satisfied with its contents he shoved it in the envelope and sealed it. He stood up and walked towards the door when Aeris stopped him.

"Where are you off to?" she asked.

"Going to go job hunting." He replied, remembering the flyer he had picked up earlier that day.

"At 9 P.M?" She asked accusingly.

"What? Don't trust me? I'm sure there are still some places open."

"Whatever see you when you get back."

"Unless, you know, I get kidnapped and raped, in which case I don't think you'll be seeing much of me anymore."

"Heh, will if that's the case; it's been good knowing you."

Marcus laughed as he opened the door and left. He was going job hunting but also needed to mail out his letter. So he would probably do that first before he forgot.

Aeris sat at the kitchen table, watching Leo play Xbox, silently thinking to herself that maybe she is beginning to like Marcus. Like like him_. What is it about him I like? He's not bad looking I guess, and he's more mature then the other people I talk to. He's also funny, but maybe I'm one of those girls that is attracted to damaged men. Maybe its-_

"Aeris!" Her train of thought was cut off as Leo was yelling for her in the living room.

"Yes?"

"You want to try some MW3?" Leo asked as her tried to give her the controller.

"I don't like Call of Duty Leo, you know that."

"Well I mean, if you're afraid I'll whoop then never mind, don't worry about it."

"No one calls me a coward." She said as she snatched the controller away from Leo. "Put it on split-screen, I'll make you regret you challenged me."

Leo smiled, knowing he just got what he wanted. He put it on versus and set up a custom class. Aeris didn't however, saying that it wouldn't be necessary. The match started and of course, Leo picked the map he was most familiar with, Bootleg.

He took out his G36 and ran towards where Aeris would spawn. _Hehe this will be easy_, he thought to himself, _like taking candy away from a bab-. _His thought was interrupted by the TV declaring that Aeris had gotten First Blood. _How the hell?_

Aeris sat smirking her eyes still fixed on the TV. "Make a period joke and I'll kill you." She quickly said, trying to beat Leo to the punch.

"Beginners luck." Leo quickly stated.

But the rest of the match had pretty much gone on like that. Leo would run around a corner, only to be cut down by Aeris using a MG36. Leo yelled out excuses. "Camper! Aimbot! Hacker!"

"How the hell am I hacking, it's YOUR Xbox. And if I'm camping then you know where I am and you haven't killed me yet." Aeris said back, enjoying how angry Leo was getting bested at his own game.

"Hey I have a neat-o idea. How about you quit screen watching? You fricking screen looker."

"Of course I can see your screen, it's because both of our screens are on the same TV!"

Leo was getting desperate, he switched to the n00btube, but Aeris had black shield so it did little good.

"Getting worried are we?" Aeris asked. She quickly switched to her pistol to receive the final kill.

"This game blows!" Leo shouted.

"Buyers remorse already?" Aeris asked. "Come on, lets play some Horde in Gears."

Leo let out a deep sigh, "Alright, but I want to be Cole."

"No, Cole is annoying as hell. Play as someone else."

"Fine."

Leo got up and put Gears 3, returned to his seat only to find that Aeris had stolen it. Leo stuck out his tongue and went into the kitchen to get a chair. He pulled up the chair and selected everyone's favorite map, Gridlock. Leo picked Carmine while Aeris played as Marcus (coincidence?). They both got set up in the sniper tower and waited for the locust to approach.

They blew through waves 1 through 39 with little effort, but they hit a snag with the boss wave on level 40.

"God damn it!" Leo barked. "Another damn Lambent Berserker, god these things are annoying."

"Just ignore it for now." Aeris advised him. "We'll deal with it later. For now just keep your distance."

Leo did as he was told and killed everything else, while staying behind cover and making sure to have a good 50 feet in between him and the glowing bitch. Eventually, both of them cut everything else down with just the berserker left.

"I'll shoot at it while you run decoy." Aeris commanded.

Leo quickly jumped towards her while shouted at the TV. "Yeah, over here, over here, try to get me."

"You do know that it can't hear you?" Aeris asked.

"Yeah, but sometimes I like to pretend."

After several times of shooting it in the chest, the lambent berserker finally started to die.

Leo jumped out of his seat and began yelling at the TV. "Yeah! You don't want none of this. You can't handle the truth. BITCH! Sorry, I'd love to stay and chat but I have a ROFLcopter to catch so see ya!"

Aeris looked at him with a bit of slight annoyance in her eyes. "Have you been watching Arby n' the Chief again?"

"Yup! Chief is the MAN! !"

Aeris face palmed herself and said, "I think that's enough Horde for one day. Wouldn't you say?"

Leo stood up and began stretching, "Yeah I'm getting tired of whooping ass. Say what time is it?"

"About 11."

"Where's Marcus at? Do you think he got kidnapped?"

"He was kidding dumbass, besides this is Canada, not America. When was the last time you've heard of someone getting 'napped in these parts?"

Leo shrugged, he doesn't watch any news, and unless it was on G4, then he wouldn't have heard about it. But now that he brought it up, Aeris was concerned where Marcus was. Just as that thought entered her mind, Marcus walked in through the door.

"I'm back." He said politely, and giving a wave to the both of them.

"So did you get a job?" Leo asked inquisitively.

Marcus nodded. "I work at the Toronto Concert House."

"Doing?" Leo continued.

"I guess you could say I work with the stage."

Leo and Aeris both wondered what the hell he meant by that but it was 11 and they were both too tired to get into it at that time. They all said their 'Good Nights' and each headed off to their own rooms.

**That's chapter 6. I tried to put more Leo and Aeris in it this time around. Chapter 7 will be coming soon. Man, 3 chapters in one day? Quick, someone get me a Klondike Bar. BTW Has anyone noticed what all of my chapter titles have in common?**


	7. Nightfall Chapter seven

**First off, let me give a big shout out to JSossamon and XanderN, your reviews let me know that someone is reading my story and y'all keep me up at night, making me think of new chapters (bastards, I'm tired at 3 in the morning. JK). Also to my friend I know in real life (0.o I know right?) for reviewing my chapters, he seems addicted to my story like he's addicted to… well let's not get into that right now. Ha you gotta love inside jokes. P.S. Ha XanderN, I actually speak German.**

Chapter VII Nightfall

_How come every time you get into a comfortable position in bed, you gotta take a piss?_ Leo thought to himself. However an idea quickly entered his head. He turned on his lamp and quickly scanned the area around him. _Damn no bottles or cups. _He sighed loudly as he threw the covers off of him and walked to the door. He slowly turned the knob, trying to be as quiet as possible; he remembered the last time he woke Aeris up when she was sleeping. He had no idea a remote to the back of the head could hurt so much.

He was almost out of the room when he heard a sound come from the living room. It sounded like the whorl of his Xbox fans. Actually, as he stepped closer, he was dead certain that that was what the noise was. He tip toed and jumped from shadow to shadow trying to be like Sam Fisher.

As he got closer, he could make out what the TV was saying. "Heads up Delta, you have friendly Juggernaut armor inbound".

He quickly recognized the voice and realized that someone was playing Modern Warfare 3. He tip toed even closer, holding his breath and trying to avoid any noise at all. He silently snuck around the corner to reveal… Aeris?

Yup, it was defiantly her. She had the mic plugged in and was running around on Carbon with the MG36. _The same gun she raped me with earlier… _Just then a brilliant idea came through his head_. I'm going to sneak up on her. Awww man she's gonna be so scared, it's going to be hilarious. _

He grinned to himself and tried not to chuckle to himself to loudly, or it would give him away. He successfully got all the way to her, almost five feet away when he got right next to her ear and whispered.

"Whatcha doing?"

"GAH!" Aeris exclaimed, she dropped the controller and punched the stranger in one smooth motion. She turned on the living room light and turned around to see Leo on the ground holding nose, which was running with blood. "Oh, its YOU."

"God, yes its just me." Leo pouted. "Why did you deck me in the face? I think my nose is broken!"

"Well honestly Leo what were you expecting? Were you thinking about this when you were coming behind me? And make a sex joke, I DARE YOU!"

Leo standing up and trying to get his balance, argued. "I thought you would find it a funny joke among friends and we could all have a laugh about it tomorrow."

"It's times like this I wonder where you have lived for all of these years. Because it wasn't here, that's for sure."

"Oh, I'm sorry I can't hear you, I can't hear anything past the sound of me calling social services in the morning."

"Well, you certainly can. Here, this is how the conversion would probably go."

Social Services Worker: "Hello?"  
>Aeris: "Hey Jill."<br>SSW: "Oh hey Aeris. Do I even need to guess?"  
>Aeris: "No you probably don't"<br>SSW: "Have you told him that we work with children and that he's not forced to stay there?"  
>Aeris: "On many occasions. It's like talking to a brick wall. But the wall can talk back."<br>SSW: "Ha! Alright, tell the little guy I said hello. And for him to stop pissing you off."  
>Aeris: "Will do. Talk to you next week."<p>

"I didn't know you had so many people in your pocket. This must be some kind of conspiracy." Leo said. Leo removed his hand from his nose and touched it with one finger, which he quickly withdrew from with pain.

"Let me see that." Aeris said walking towards him. She drew in closer to inspect it and touched the side of it, which caused Leo to wince in pain. "Yeah I nailed you pretty good. Guess I don't know my own strength."

A shit eating grin quickly emerged to Leo's face. Aeris thought about what she just said and tried to warn him but it was too late. The damage was done.

"Aeris, you nailed me? That's messed up. I thought we were just friends." Leo busted out laughing uncontrollably. Aeris' face began to turn a little red.

"You know what I meant." She said, almost a whisper.

"Yeah I know I'm just messing with you is all."

"Well if it hurts that bad, maybe you can get Marcus to give you one of his pain pills. God knows he has enough of the damn things."

"Maybe he's still up. I think I'll go see if I can get one now." Leo began to walk towards the hallway but was yanked back by Aeris with a pissed off look on her face.

"Don't go in there and wake him up. He's got his own shit to worry about."

"No I'm awake." A voice came from the hallway. Marcus walked towards the two of them, rubbing his eyes. He must have not gotten any sleep because he looked like crap.

"Ah" Leo said. "Hey funny story, Aeris punched me in the nose an-"

Marcus cut him off, "Yeah I know. I saw the whole thing."

"Wait, how long you were watching?" Aeris asked, her face blushing again.

"Long enough, I'm very good at sneaking. Well I don't really tip toe, I kinda hobble more than anything." Marcus replied, laughing a bit at his joke.

"So can Leo get a pill? I feel kinda bad about hitting him as hard as I did." Aeris asked, showing care for Leo probably the only time Marcus has seen.

Marcus' smile immediately dropped to a frown. "Absolutely not."

Aeris and Leo were both thrown off by his blunt answer. They haven't seen him like this before, he's usually happy and can put on a smile for almost anything.

"Aw. Come on man! My nose is killing me!" Leo begged. Marcus walked towards him and looked at his nose for a little.

"Life is pain." He replied coldly. He took two fingers and put them on Leo's nose and popped it back into place. Leo yelped in pain and jumped back a bit.

"Better?" Marcus asked, inspecting his handy work.

Leo brought his hand back to his nose and moved it around a bit. "Yeah it actually is better. Thanks."

Marcus walked back towards his room while waving his hand. "Don't mention it."

**There's chapter 7. I will probably do chapter 8 sometime later today as well so be sure to be on the lookout for it.**


	8. Trail by Fire Chapter eight

**Well, I'm happy to say that I've finally completed the entire story outline, and I am predicting that the story will probably be 20 chapters long. Also I can't wait for you guys to read the end. Like seriously, I'm excited for y'all. Here's chapter 8.**

Chapter VIII Trail by Fire

Leo and Aeris were awake and were making breakfast by 9, with Marcus still sleeping in his room. Leo was setting up silverware when he saw his reflection in a spoon and saw how busted up his nose was. Leo touched it, still a little tender but a lot better off then it was. He chuckled to himself as he continued to look into the spoon.

"What's funny?" Aeris asked him curiously.

"Oh, I was just thinking about last night."

"Well I did find punching you in the face pretty hilarious myself but you didn't seem to enjoy too much."

"No not that." Leo explained, "I found it funny how Marcus acted last night. Not like, ha ha, funny. But sort of weird."

Aeris looked at him and started to look back to what happened. Leo was right, it was weird how he acted. Aeris silently thought to herself. _Maybe he just didn't get enough sleep? But he seemed fine before I asked him for one of his pills, then he just got defensive. Is he really that greedy over his meds, or is it something else?_

Her thoughts were cut off by Leo pestering her. "Uh, Aeris?" But when he looked at her she was still staring off in space. "Uh, Aeris!" He repeated a little louder this time.

"What?" She demanded, she didn't like to be interrupted, even if she wasn't doing anything.

"Yeah I hate to interrupt you but um, your bacon is on fire."

Aeris looked over her shoulder to reveal that her bacon had indeed caught flame. She panicked as she took a washcloth and tried to put the fire out but to no avail.

"What the bloody hell is all the commotion?" Marcus said walking into the kitchen, rubbing his leg like he often does. However he answered his own question as he looked up and saw the fire in the pan. "Holy hell! Your bacon is on fire!"

"Yeah! No shit!" Aeris yelled back.

"Out of the way." Marcus said as he limped towards the fire and taking off his shirt. Aeris jumped back while Marcus put the shirt on the fire, effectively putting it out.

Aeris looked at his back and noticed something she hadn't before. Two large scars ran parallel across his back. She couldn't make out what probably made them or how he got them so she opened her mouth about to ask but stopped herself. She knew damn well how he got them.

"Whew." She said instead, "The kitchen is safe and the apartment didn't burn down."

"Yeah but I don't think I can say the same about the bacon." Leo said with a sad frown, holding up a extremely crispy piece of bacon. "Lets all go to McDonalds for breakfast, my treat."

"Alright Leo." Aeris said back, giving him a thumbs up.

"Sorry. But I can't, its Friday, you know I gotta work today." Marcus said back, wanting to go to McDonalds.

"Oh yeah. What is it you do anyway?" Aeris asked.

"How about this, y'all come by the Toronto Concert House at 9 tonight and you'll see what I do." Marcus said back with a slight grin on his face. Aeris and Leo looked at each other, not knowing what to make of his comment.

"Um ok, we'll see you there I guess." Leo said, scratching his head in confusion.

"Well alright see you then." Marcus walked away while lighting a cigarette with one hand and digging out more pills from his pocket.

"Quite the multi tasker." Leo said jokingly.

Aeris playfully punched him in the arm and nudged her head in the opposite direction. "Come on, you said something about buying me breakfast."

Several hours later…

"Damn it Leo come on" Aeris shouted through the entire apartment. "We're already several minutes late. What are you doing in your room anyway? I swear to god if you're masturbating."

"What! No! I'm looking for my collar. I can't find it."

"Are you wearing it?"

Leo checked his neck. _Damn it, I hate it when she's right. _Leo quickly came from his room, "Found it. It was under my bed."

"Uh huh. Whatever, we gotta go."

A bit later…

Leo and Aeris walked into the concert house to reveal a mass of people. Cats and people alike. But god the noise, it was loud in there she honestly didn't know how the other cats could put up with it. She thought to herself. _Where did Marcus say to meet him?… Center stage that's right._ She figured that all the noise was coming from that direction so she followed the sounds, dragging Leo behind her.

Then she heard singing, and the voice was familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"…It's because of you I'm god forsaken!"

Yes she had defiantly heard that voice before but still couldn't pin it on someone she knew. She listened carefully as she walked closer to the door leading to the stage.

"… it's because of you. I WISH YOU'D DIE!"

"Wait is that…" She walked through the door and looked at the man singing on stage. "…Marcus?"

"Father. Bastard. I'm the devil's very own! Mother. Know not. Just who I've become. Father! Beat me! For being all that you're not! Mothers! Baby! I HATE WHAT I'VE BECOME!"

Aeris looked up at Marcus, completely different from the one she knew earlier. And that look in his eyes, pure hatred, she had never seen before. She could tell the song was coming to an end and was frozen by what he was singing about.

"It's because of you I'm broken! It's because of you I'm dead inside! Where did I go wrong? Who was I supposed to be? No matter what I've done! You've always criticized me! When its said and done! You will remember! ME!"

Then he raised his fist in the air after which the crowd cheered. Marcus then scanned the crowd, as if looking for someone. He managed to spot out Aeris and Leo, to which he motioned for them to meet him backstage.

"What do you guys think?" Marcus asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

"You guys rocked!" Leo exclaimed, clearly not understanding what Marcus' song was about.

"And troubling…" Aeris added looking down a little bit.

"Eh. Don't think too much of it. Its just a job. They needed a songwriter and a singer and I needed money. Everyone wins." Marcus replied, trying to keep everyone at ease. "Come on, let's go to McDonalds. My treat."

Aeris looked up and smiled, "Well, since your paying."

Marcus looked at her and returned the smile when Leo jumped in, "So are you like a rockstar?" Leo asked with curiosity.

"Ha! No, we are mostly small time. Now come on, let's get some food, I'm starved."

**Theres chapter 8. Marcus, cripple by day, rockstar by night. Not really, like in the story, their not big time. The song in the story was "The Devils Own" by Five Finger Death Punch. The lyrics aren't exact so don't try to call me out on it. And now for the legal crap. I do not own Five Finger Death Punch, their songs, or their lyrics.**


	9. A Firendly Game Chapter nine

**Good morning everyone or whatever time it is when y'all read this. Now, first things first, let me clear up some speculation. Marcus is about 19 years old. He seems to have an older feeling to him because he's very independent, having to teach himself almost everything. But I know what you mean, because when I was writing some chapters he felt like he was 28. And yes I am aware that's a very random number.**

Chapter IX A Friendly Game

**About two weeks after the concert…**

It was what some might constitute as a 'slow day' in the apartment. Leo played on his DS, clearly burnt out on MW3, Marcus was lying on his back and throwing a ball in the air and catching it, and Aeris was sitting on the couch shaking her head at how stupid they both were.

"Alright." Marcus began, "I'm bored as hell, what is there to do on a Thursday afternoon in Canada?" He stood up and chucked the ball down the hallway.

"I don't know. What did you do when you were at your house and you were bored?" Leo asked.

"Well since we don't have a quart of moonshine, a pair of chickens, and a bowling ball, then I can't think of anything to do either."

Leo and Aeris both looked at him, wondering just what the hell one would do with those items.

"Um, what?" Aeris asked dumbstruck.

"You know what? I'll leave that one up to imagination." Marcus laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Wait a minute!" Leo jumped up and ran into the kitchen to reveal a coupon in his hand. "Theres a new put-put golf course that opened up like five minutes away from here!" Leo ran into the living room to present the coupon to Aeris, like an eager child would a mother.

"Well, there's nothing else to do I suppose." Aeris asked. She looked towards Marcus to see if he was down for it.

He laughed and grabbed his jacket, "I hate put-put."

**About 20 minutes later at the golf course…**

"Leo it doesn't matter what color your ball is, just make up your mind and grab one." Aeris said sighing, already regretting having agreed to the idea. Leo picked up a blue ball finally while Aeris had a pink one and Marcus with the traditional white, claiming its what 'the pros used'. Aeris walked away from the booth giving the clerk a 'I'm sorry for my retarded friend' look and jogged to catch up with Leo and Marcus.

Marcus decided he was going to go first. Hole 1 and the par is 3 strokes. He lined up the ball with the hole and got ready for the shot. He couldn't hold his club still due to it being so cold, so it looked like he had Parkinson's, and when he finally smacked the ball it went off the course completely and landed in a small pond nearby.

"Just amazing." Aeris said marking him down for +5. She handed Marcus the score sheet, who secretly changed it to -5. Aeris dropped the ball on the black mat and got ready to take a shot. Aeris brought the club back and hit the ball a little too hard, causing it to go into the pond, along with Marcus' ball.

"Not a word." She muttered as she walked past the both of them.

It was Leo's turn, and Marcus and Aeris could tell that it was going to be quite entertaining so they sat down on the bench. Leo dropped his ball and in one smooth grace of motion, smacked the ball lightly so it just made it into the hole.

Marcus and Aeris immediately stood up and didn't believe what they just saw.

"I don't believe it, a hole in one?" Aeris asked looking at Leo's club, convinced he cheated somehow.

"Maybe he's like the Rain Man of golf." Marcus said, snickering a little bit. Aeris also laughed but Leo scratched his head, having never seen the movie.

The next few holes continued like this, Marcus and Aeris would get either a bad Bogey or knock it off course, while Leo made a hole in one almost every time. They were on hole 17, and Marcus looked at it with a little bit of fear in his eyes. He had to put the ball in between two narrow rocks in order to get the ball in the hole. Knowing a +20 was in his near future, he lined up the shot and waited for his chance. He looked up at the sky and shouted, "My god! It's coming straight towards us!"

Leo and Aeris quickly turned to the sky to see what he was observing. While they were looking, Marcus bent down, picked up his ball and threw it towards the hole, saying "SMACK!" just before it hit the ground.

Leo and Aeris both turned around discovering nothing was in the sky. Aeris looked down and noticed that the ball was much closer than it originally was. "You know if you're going to cheat, you might as well do a better job of it." Aeris told him. Marcus admitted defeat and picked up his ball.

Aeris got ready for her shot by moving her neck back and forth and rotating her shoulders. She was about to hit it when an idea popped into her head. She stretched her leg, but bringing it back down 'accidently' kicked the ball towards the hole.

Marcus jumped out of his seat declaring, "CHEAT!" Leo too began to point and chant 'cheat'.

"What? No! I just tried to stretch my leg; I didn't mean to hit it with my foot." She quickly said, defending herself.

"At least my idea was original." Marcus said back teasingly. "The old kick the ball routine? Done many times."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter, Leo's going to win."

"Well yeah, we both have like +100."

Leo went to the hole and began to line up shot, muttered something to himself and lightly hit the ball like before. It was rolling straight for the hole when Aeris decided no one was going to win. She jumped on the course and picked up Leo's ball just before it went in the hole and threw it as far as possible.

Marcus almost died he was laughing so hard. He got on his knees and clutched his sides from laughing so hard. Leo just sighed and said "AWWW!" Not at all surprised by what Aeris just did. Just then the manager came out and started walking towards them. Apparently, throwing a ball into the parking lot was frowned upon. He said that they had to leave, to which Aeris said, "Whatever, this place is gay anyways." Then she took her putter and flung it into the pond. And to no one's surprise they were all three banned from going there again.

As they started walking back to the car to go home, Marcus spoke up.

"Feel better now?"

Aeris grinned and said, "Much better."

**There's chapter nine, chapter ten will probably be released sometime today so be sure to keep a look out for it.**


	10. Hornets Nest Chapter ten

**Well here's chapter ten like I said I was going to do.**

Chapter X Hornets Nest

After a trip to Burger King, everyone begins to return home from the golfing course. Leo sat in the back seat pouting by what Aeris did; he wouldn't have minded going back there one day. Marcus sat in the front, mostly due to the fact he called shotgun before Leo did. He's enjoying a cigarette after the Whopper he just ate. Aeris is driving because she doesn't trust anyone else with the task, which she brought up on many occasions.

"Yes I get it, we're retarded." Marcus said, tired of hearing Aeris go on about the seven car pileup which would occur if either of them drove. He took one last drag from his cig, as he was mostly getting filter now, and threw it out the window.

"Speak for yourself, I'm a great driver! I once drove this ca-" Leo said. He quickly cupped his mouth, trying to hide his answer but it was already out there. Aeris almost slammed on the brakes so Marcus was happy this was probably the one time he decided to wear a seat belt. He was also glad he put out the cigarette, or else it would have flown inside the car and then he would have been in Leo's boat.

"YOU WERE DRIVING MY CAR!" Aeris roared. As she turned around she turned around, she brought her fist up to eye level. Leo seeing a broken nose in his future this time quickly opened the car door and ran out of the car towards a field.

"Oh hell no!" Aeris exclaimed. She flew open the car door and began to chase him. "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

"Nuh uh. You're going to hit me."

"You're damn straight I'm going to hit you."

Marcus just sat on the hood of the car and lit a cigarette, watching Aeris chase Leo for about a whole ten minutes. However much to his surprise, Leo lasted longer than Aeris did. She slowed down, out of breath and began to walk back towards the car.

"Little bugger's fast isn't he?" Marcus said, still a little shocked that Leo had 'won'.

"I need to get into shape." Aeris replied back to Marcus, still trying to catch her breath.

Just then Marcus had an excellent idea. He motioned for Aeris to come closer.

"How long is the apartment from here?" He asked.

"About five minutes."

"Does Leo know his way back?"

"Yeah he used to walk to the GameStop up the road from here. Where are you getting at?"

But then she understood where he was going with it. She gave him and evil grin and he returned it. Marcus looked over his right shoulder and saw Leo was beginning to walk towards the car.

"Cheese it!" Marcus yelled as he got into the car. With that Aeris sped off leaving Leo walking towards the car and giving them the middle finger.

**Back at the apartment…**

"I can't believe we just did that." Marcus said laughing. He walked into the living room and turned the TV.

"Well actually." Aeris began, "I can indeed believe that we did that. What I can't believe is that that was your idea." Aeris looked at him who was still laughing.

"Well I learn from the best." He replied back and taking a seat on the couch. Aeris jumped on the couch next to him when she yelled out.

"GAH!" She yelped. She froze, rubbing her neck. "Ah, I think it's my neck. My neck is killing me!"

"Is it your neck?" Marcus said, trying to hide the sarcasm. However it didn't work very well as Aeris looked up and gave him her patented Death-Stare.

"You're pretty lucky I can't move, or I would shove you in the trunk of the car and drop you off with Leo." Aeris told him.

"That's why I said it. Here move over and let me help." Marcus said walking towards her. Aeris did as Marcus told her, scooting to her right. Marcus sat down and began to rub Aeris' neck and shoulders. She could almost instantly feel them returning to normal.

"My god, it's like massaging a brick!" Marcus said as he rubbed her shoulders. Marcus continued to move around and massage until he hit one spot when she began to purr, so he stayed there.

"How did you become so good at massaging?" Aeris asked curiously.

"When my leg used to hurt me and I didn't have any pills left, I would have to massage it until it felt better. So I learned what did and didn't work." He said back to her.

Aeris began to think to herself. _This is my time. I should make my move now. But what if he doesn't like me? No, of course he likes you, he's massaging your neck. Yes as a friend, he's not into you. But... Oh well... I'm sure what to do. I'll just wait, wait for a better time than now._

**Meanwhile, in Marcus' mind…**

"… _do do do, do do do do do do do, do do do. Another one bites the dust. And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust…" Aeris looks cute today. Well she always looks cute, but more so today. Her fur is really soft, and warm. Should I move in on her? No, she's probably not into me. I'll wait a little to see if she drops any hints. Until then, we're just friends. Besides I don't know if she likes Leo or not, and I don't want to move in on her if she's into Leo or if Leo has a thing for her. That would be weird. I know, I'll just ask her Although he pretty much already knew that she did have a thing for Leo._

**General (POV)**

"Um, Aeris?" Marcus said breaking the silence.

Aeris turned around to look at him. "Yes?"

"Do you like Leo? You know, like more than a friend?"

Aeris face began to get red. "What? ?No I don't! He's an idiot and just a friend."

Marcus began to laugh, "You're lying."

Aeris got even redder, "NO I'M NOT!"

"You can tell someone is lying when their voice gets higher. And you have denial. Don't hate yourself for liking Leo. He's a pretty good guy, sure he seems to be dumber than a 5th grade dropout but he has heart."

Aeris sighed and walked next to him and whispered, "I swear to god if you tell him, I will kill you. And I will take my time doing it too."

Marcus stepped back and held his hands in the 'I surrender' fashion, "Message received anything else while we are discussing things?"

"No, just keep your damn mouth shut if you know whats good for you."

Just then, Leo finally made it home. Holding a cup of coke he probably bought on the way back, he grinned and looked at the two of them. "I hate you guys."

**There's chapter ten. The new verison anyways. Well, I hope this will do becuase it's going to have to. I really don't feel like going back and editing anything else but I think that this was pretty much the only plot hole. Well, that's the story, as always a huge thank you to Jsossamon and XanderN for the reviews. Also thank you for the heads up on the typo on the last chapter Jsossamon, I have fixed it. **


	11. The Sins Of The Father Chapter eleven

**Well, first let me make some announcements. Firstly, yes I realize that I did indeed have Aeris jump into the relationship with Marcus somewhat early. While it is true that I did not hint Marcus liking Aeris, I did indeed hint that Aeris has a thing for Marcus (The Best Laid Plans). As well as I have hinted that Aeris likes Leo, while not as strong as Marcus, I have slightly hinted at it. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do about it now. Now then, after this chapter I will begin to take things a little bit slower. I will still have at least one chapter out a day but probably not more than that. As the plot thickens, I have to take it a little slower to avoid plot holes. With that said here's chapter 11.**

Chapter XI The Sins Of The Father

Leo sat the cup on the kitchen table and began to walk towards the two of them, a little bit of aggression in his eyes. "You know Aeris, I could have been killed or mugged. And Marcus, why didn't you help me? It seemed like your idea from what I saw."

Marcus stepped forward, "Yes it was my idea, I saved you from an ass beating is what I did. And I made sure that you knew your way home before we did it. And lets not forget the fact you drove her car without her permission." Marcus looked at Aeris, who was getting red with anger, remembering what happened. Marcus gave her a 'take it easy' look and looked back at Leo. "And with that, I think there are some apologies in order."

Aeris jump took a step forward and said, "What the hell do I have to be sorry for? He stole my car and took it for a joy ride apparently." Leo walked backwards a little and began to walk behind Marcus.

"You left him on the side of the street. And before you even it, yes it was my idea and I apologize for it. Looking back on it though it was funny as hell. And Leo, shouldn't you say something for taking Aeris' car without her permission?"

Leo walked from behind Marcus and looked at Aeris, putting his head down and staring at the floor every now and then, "I'm sorry." He said. Leo began to walk towards Aeris and extended his hand, as if for a hand shake.

Aeris swallowed her pride and said through her teeth, "I'm sorry Leo." She grabbed his hand and shook it, but she squeezed it hard and looked at him in the eyes, "But if you ever do it again, I'll kill you."

"Well, that'll have to do." Marcus said with his arms crossed, seeing that that was the best he was going to get. "I'm stepping out for a smoke."

"Wait!" Leo jumped up running towards him, "Can I come out with you?" He asked like an eager child.

"I don't see why not." Marcus replied. He grabbed the knob and began turning it when Aeris said something.

"Can you bring back the mail as you some up?" She asked.

"Sure." Leo replied, not understanding she was talking to Marcus and not him. Leo grabbed his coat and ran to catch up with Marcus.

**Outside…**

Marcus blew out smoke through his nose, which didn't burn as much this time as it did the others. He took another drag from his cigarette and looked over at Leo. "So why did you want to come out here with me?" Marcus asked. "We aren't… you know." Marcus took both if his index fingers and touched them together.

"What? No!" Leo argued, "I just wanted to say thank you for sticking up for me back there. I haven't had anyone really get my back like that before." Leo smiled at Marcus and he returned it.

"No problem buddy. Tell me something…" He took one last drag off of his cigarette and put it out on the ground. "Do you have a thing for Aeris?"

Leo jumped back, he even seemed offended having been asked that question, "What? Of course not! We are just friends is all." Leo's face got a little red, "Why? Did she say that she likes me?" Leo's face getting redder and his tail began to swirl.

"I'm not telling." Marcus replied back smiling, having his answer, "Come on, let's go. Oh yeah, don't forget the mail." Leo ran over to their mailbox number and retrieved their mail. They walked back to the apartment together, Leo smiling all of the way back.

"God it took y'all long enough! Did you at least remember the mail?" Aeris demanded as they walked in. Leo walked over to her and gave her all of the envelopes. Aeris inspected each one, "Bill, bill, scam, bill, advertisement, bill, and …" She froze looking at one of them.

"Marcus, this one's for you. It says it's from a Mr. Bish" Aeris said holding up the letter.

Marcus turned around and looked. The first thing that popped into his head was Mr. Bish_. Is it my father?_ He walked over to get it from Aeris, almost snatching it away. He looked at it and sighed with relief, recognizing the address.

"It's from my grandfather." Marcus said and began to chuckle, "Old bastard probably forgot his first name." Aeris and Leo both laughed as well as Marcus. Marcus opened the letter and began to read it to himself, him smile fading almost instantly. Leo and Aeris stopped laughing and looked up at Marcus, who had a look of horror on his face.

"What's up man?" Leo said curiously. "Something the matter?"

Marcus ignored him and kept reading, "No." He finally said, "No…no… GOD DAMNIT NOOO! THAT MOTHER FUCKER! HE'S TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM ME! GOD DAMNIT WHY?" Marcus screamed. He crumpled the paper in his fist and went into the kitchen and threw a couple of pots and pans in a blind fury. He sat down in front of the sink. "…why?"

Aeris looked towards him, scared to do anything. She had NEVER seen him like this before. She walked towards him to put her hand on his shoulder but before she could he handed her the letter. She reluctantly took it from him, somewhat afraid of what it said that caused him to flip out like this. She unwrinkled it and walked towards Leo, opening it so both of them could read it. It read…

"_Marcus, where have you been for the past month? Something has happened back here at home. Its hard for me to write you this letter, I'd rather be telling it to you face to face. Its… its your mother Marcus. She's… she's gone. Your father got drunk one night and just, beat her. The cops have caught him and he's currently waiting for a life sentence trail. I'm so sorry Marcus." _

"Oh my god…" Aeris muttered to herself.

"What's left?" Marcus asked, "He's taken my childhood, my innocence, my sleep, and now my mother. What do I have left now?" Aeris looked down at him; tears began to stream from his eyes as he just stared at the floor.

"You have us still." Aeris began, "You have a new life here in Canada."

"And you have new friends." Leo jumped in.

Marcus began to stand up, "Yeah." He barely whispered it. "I'm going out for some air. I'll be back later."


	12. The Road Less Traveled Chapter twelve

**I'm going to first start off by saying that the VG Cats website is updated, so if I were you I would go over there and check that out. Now then, I don't really have much else to say, here's chapter 12.**

Chapter XII The Road Less Traveled

Leo and Aeris both sat down at the kitchen table staring at the letter, trying to find something to say. Aeris just kept flashing back to what happened moments ago, Marcus throwing pots around in a rage, but who wouldn't? Having just discovered that the only person who really cared for him for most of his life was killed. Not to mention his dad had killed her, the same man responsible for all of the pain and agony that was now in Marcus' life. How could a man go through that much torment and still be as happy and cheery as he is when he's around us? Did it not bother him that much or did he just put on a happy face?

Leo looked up from the letter and spoke up finally, "So his dad killed his mom? Man, that has to suck." He picked up his coke and drank from it, but realizing the ice had melted and made it more water than coke, he sat it back down.

"That sucks?" Aeris looked up at him, "His mother just died, show some fucking respect!" Aeris' face was getting red from anger, not knowing that Leo didn't mean it as a joke.

"What I'm serious. I couldn't possibly begin to imagine what I would do if I were in his shoes." Leo pleaded.

Aeris red face began to fade, now seeing that he meant it out of good intent, "Yeah it's just… I'm sorry Leo. I didn't mean to snap at you." Aeris put her had on the letter and pushed it aside, as if trying to push away what just happened.

"It's ok, I know you didn't mean it like that." Leo reassured her. He put his hand down on the table, not paying attention to where and noticed it landed on top of her hand. Leo looked down at his hand then looked up at Aeris, who was blushing slightly. Leo yanked his hand away along with an "I'm sorry." He squinted up his face, ready for a punch but was surprised when one never came. He opened his eyes to see Aeris looking down at the table blushing. _Maybe she does like me_, Leo thought so himself. _But does she like me? Damn it, why couldn't Marcus have just told me? I don't want to move in on it and have it mess up my relationship with her. Not to mention if I'm wrong she'll probably bury me somewhere._

Aeris looked down to see Leo's hand on top of hers. It was warm and soft, she almost purred but she held it back_. Do I like him? Yes of course I do. But does he like me? I've never really seen him take notice in me, but all of the times I've beaten him and called him names, he's never left or snapped at me. That has to count for something right? _Aeris stopped her thought to notice her face was getting warm again. She quickly looked down at the table trying to hide her face from Leo.

Leo stood up from the table and began to walk towards the living room, "Hey I'm going to play some MW3, you care to join?" Aeris looked up at him, seeing him walk away she sighed with relief letting her face return to its normal color. "Yeah, sure Leo." She replied, needing to get her mind off of everything that just happened.

Aeris sat down next to him while Leo handed her a controller. "You want to play some Survival?" he asked, already on the Survival screen.

"Yeah sure. Seeing as how we're already here." Aeris replied, chuckling to herself a little. Leo returned the laugh and picked the map 'Interchange'. They spawned and immediately both of them ran to the same spot, both of them having probably played the map before. They tackled all of the waves with little resistance up until wave 10. "Heads up team, you have enemy juggernauts inbound to your position." the TV declared. Aeris and Leo both took up positions near the helicopter, waiting for the juggernaut to appear. But Leo being Leo, ran into the smoke and began knifing him. "Die damn you! Feel the sweet embrace of death!" Leo screamed at the TV. Aeris tried to warn him to get back but the juggernaut had already cut Leo down to size.

"Damn it Leo. Why would you run face first towards him?" Aeris asked irritated.

"How was I supposed to know he was hacking and invincible to knives?"

Aeris ignored him and ran around on the map to buy some C4. She placed them around the corner and waited for the juggernaut to come around and then she detonated all of them at once, killing the juggernaut instantly. "And that's how it's done." She proclaimed proudly.

"I weakened him up for you!" Leo pleaded back.

"Yeah whatever."

Aeris went to pick Leo back up, who then went to the air support box to purchase the Riot Shield squad. "Oh yeah! Calling in my boys." Leo yelled as the helicopter arrived and began to drop off the squad.

Aeris snickered to herself as an idea popped up in her head. She ran over to the airsupport box like Leo had down but bought a Predator Missile instead. Leo stood back watching his men come off of the ropes and began to bring out their rifles. Aeris took a couple of steps back and opened up the sir support laptop.

"Aeris? What are you…?" Leo asked but soon realized what she was intended to do. "Quick boys! Follow me! Under the bridge quick! We have a traitor among us!" Leo ran towards the bridge, hoping his 'boys' would follow but didn't. "NOOOO!" He screamed as a missile came down from the sky and obliterated his squad.

"Damn it! They were all so young and had families! That's four grand down the hole." Leo said looking at the floor, a single tear in his eyes.

"Priceless." Aeris replied with a laugh, "Say how long has Marcus been gone?" She looked for a clock a little worried.

"About 4 hours." Leo replied. Aeris was about to wonder where he was until a very loud knocking came to the door.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Leo jumped up, startled from the noise. He began to walk towards the door, trying to avoid the whole 'I wonder who that could be at this hour?' ordeal. He opened the door and Marcus stumbled in with an empty bottle of whisky in his hand.

**Chapter 13 will be done tomorrow, I don't know how early though but rest assured it will be done. Review.**


	13. Like Father, Like Son Chapter thirteen

Chapter XIII Like Father, Like Son

Marcus stumbled past Leo and tried to put his empty bottle on the table but he missed and ended up dropping it on the floor. Leo shut the door behind him and caught a huge whiff of whisky as we looked back towards Marcus.

"Are you drunk Marcus?" Aeris asked disappointed, but already knowing the answer. She stared at him shaking her head_. I thought you were stronger than this. I thought you could handle anything. _

Marcus looked up at her smiling, "Yes, I'm also high too." He reached into his coat pocket and presented an empty bottle of his pain pills. He shook the bottle and noticed there was none left, "Must have finished 'em all." He chuckled as he slurred the words. Then for no reason he began to laugh wildly for no reason.

"Christ look at yourself." Aeris said walking towards him, pity in her eyes_. Man he's taking this rough; I hope he doesn't try anything stupid. Well stupider than this I guess. _She walked over to Marcus to try to help him on the couch but was surprised when he brushed her off. "What?"

"You wouldn't happen to have any beer in this place would you?" He asked, stumbling towards the fridge. Opening it only to reveal that there was none.

"No, we don't drink." Leo said, mostly observing this whole time up until now. Leo and Aeris exchanged worried looks as they both tried to find out what it is they should do. Leo walked towards Marcus, who was now in the pantry looking for more alcohol, despite Leo having just told him that there wasn't any.

"Marcus do you want to talk about anything?" Aeris asked concerned, she was beginning to worry about him now.

"Like what?" Marcus said turning around, slurring every syllable. "What you mean my mom dying? Yeah she's dead but there's nothing I can do about that now. There's nothing anybody can do about it now. You want to know why? Cause she's dead."

Aeris was about to stop him but he continued, "Man I've never felt like this before. I feel alive, and best of all my leg! It doesn't hurt anymore. All of the pain is…is gone. Its bliss." Marcus began to laugh again but stopped himself when he noticed that no one else was joining him. "What? Why is everyone so serious?"

"Because you're drunk and high. I thought you were better than this." Aeris said, almost beginning to cry. Seeing a man she held up so high in her heart suddenly fall.

Marcus looked up at her, "So you're disappointed in me, is that it?" Marcus said coldly, anger replacing the joy in his eyes. "What you think I'm not good enough? You agree with my father that I'm a piece of shit huh?" Marcus was giving Aeris a death stare.

Aeris almost jumped out of her skin, "WHAT? I never said that. It's just I didn't think you would take your mother's death this hard. Please go to bed and sleep this off." She pleaded, begging almost. She walked over to him to grab his arm but he yanked it away.

"Don't fucking touch me." He told her, more anger building up in his eyes now. He walked over to her pointing his finger right at her face, "Don't ever touch me."

"I'm sorry Marcus I didn't mean to-" Aeris pleaded trying her hardest to calm him down. But she was cut off by Marcus getting in her face.

"No you're not sorry. Not yet." With that, Marcus brought his fist back and hit Aeris in the eye. She jumped back with a yelp. Aeris was crying a little now. She looked up to see Marcus coming in for another hit.

Marcus brought his fist back again and was about to strike her again when something caught his eye. Leo was coming out of the corner of his eye, his fist already on its way to Marcus' face. Leo's fist hit Marcus' nose, instantly breaking it. Marcus flew back and hit the ground. He tried to get back up but was stopped as Leo got on his chest and continued to hit him in the face. Leo grabbed the back of Marcus neck, forcing his head to rise off the ground, then he would hit it back to the ground again.

"That's enough." Aeris softly said from behind him. Leo either not hearing or not caring, ignored it and continued to beat Marcus to hell and back. "Leo that's enough." She said again, with a little more steel in her voice. Leo once again though ignored her and continued to punch the hell out of Marcus face. "GOD DAMN IT THAT'S ENOUGH!" She screamed. This time Leo stopped in mid punch and looked up at her. Leo was breathing heavily from the adrenaline rush, but Marcus was breathing louder, or rather he was wheezing. Leo got off of Marcus and was helped up by receiving a hand from Aeris. Both of them looked back down at Marcus, who was laughing again.

"It doesn't even hurt! Although it feels like you broke my nose!" he said laughing to himself while touching his nose, to see that it was indeed broken.

Aeris looked down at him with pity, instantly knowing what he had become. "Marcus…" She said softly, still sobbing a little from being hit.

"Yo!" He replied as if nothing had happened a minute ago.

"You… you've become your father."

"What?" Marcus asked genuinely not hearing her remark.

"I SAID YOU'VE BECOME YOUR FATHER!" She screamed at him.

Those words went through Marcus like a sword. Had he really become his father? He looked down at the empty whisky bottle to see a reflection, but only it wasn't his. It was his dads, and he saw him laughing. _God damn it, no!_ He thought to himself. He looked back up at Aeris and Leo, tears streaming from his face.

Aeris looked down at the now crushed Marcus. How couldn't he be crushed? He had just dawned on him that he had become the thing he had hated for all those years. Marcus looked at her with regret and misery in his eyes, he opened his eyes but no words came out.

"Aeris…I…I" Marcus began as he got up and walked towards her. Only she jumped back and Leo stood in front of him now.

"I think it would be for the best if you left now." Leo said coldly, doing his best to control his anger. Marcus looked at Aeris who turned away; he looked at the ground and headed for the door.

"Alright." He mumbled as he walked out of the door.

**Finally! I've been waiting to get to this chapter for awhile now. Also since I'm uploading this at 4:15 on Saturday, then this will be my Saturday chapter. So don't expect one till Sunday. I might do another before then but I wouldn't bank on it. Review. **


	14. Justification Chapter fourteen

**First off let me start off by saying that after I finish this story (which shouldn't be too much longer, its reaching its end), that I am going to go back and put in a chapter or two before chapter 10 so that way chapter 10 makes more sense. **

Chapter XIV Justification

Leo and Aeris sat looking blankly at the door. Both were thinking the same thing. How could a man who they thought they knew so well turn around and betray them like this? Leo couldn't begin to describe how much he hated Marcus at the moment right then, however Aeris had a different opinion.

"Why Marcus?" She said with a little bit of sorrow in her voice.

Leo swung around and looked at her, a very surprised look on his face. "Don't tell me you feel sorry for him?" He said looking at her accusingly.

"Don't get me wrong, theres nothing I would want to do more right now then get a knife and stab the bastard in his heart." She began, "But you have to understand where he's coming from. He never had a caring home and he was brought up in a neglectful house. Not to mention he just discovered that his mother was killed, he just…snapped. After years of bottling up emotions he just broke. Everyone has their breaking point."

"Don't tell me you're trying to justify his actions."

"I'm not its just that we can't put all of the blame on him." She said back, almost a begging tone. Leo looked back at Aeris and began to smile. Aeris was a little thrown off by his sudden mood change. "What?". Aeris quickly realized that it was an 'okay you're right' signal so she quickly said "Nevermind".

Leo walked over to Aeris and put his hand on her face, inspecting her now swollen eye. Aeris blushed a little as Leo put his hand on her cheek. "He got you good." He said using his hand to turn her head a little. He let go and walked over to the freezer and brought out a thing of frozen peas and placed it on her eye, to which she squinted with pain.

"Sorry." Leo said, jerking the peas back a little. Leo handed Aeris the bag and she placed it on her eye. "Well, I'm off to bed. See you in the morning."

Leo began to walk away but Aeris stopped him. "Wait." Leo turned around to find that Aeris had followed him.

"Whats up?" Leo asked.

"I just waned to say thank you for getting Marcus off of me. If you hadn't been here I'm not sure what would have happened." Aeris blushed again as the words left her mouth.

Leo blushed in return and scratched the back of his neck. "Uh… don't mention it. I'm sure you would have done the same for me." They both stared into each other's eyes for a minute until Leo broke contact. "Ah! I gotta pee!" He sprinted down the hallway and almost busted down the bathroom door, along to which followed a long sound of water hitting water. Aeris smiled to herself and went to her room.

About 8 A.M. the next day…

Leo woke up to the smell of french toast being made in the kitchen. He didn't bother changing out of his pajamas, but did however put on a shirt. He walked out to notice Aeris making french toast along with some pancakes. He stood there, watching her cook when another idea popped into his head.

Slightly grinning to himself he began to creep up on Aeris. He was silently giggling to himself and right before he got up behind her he reached up to yell BOO when…

"Morning Leo." Aeris said before Leo could get in his scare. _How the hell did she know I was behind her? Mind reading powers? She must be a witch, burn her at the stake I say!_

Aeris continued to talk, her eyes still trained on the food. "Before you even ask if I'm a witch, look." She pointed to the microwave, to which Leo could see his reflection, as well as the entire living room.

Aeris turned around and Leo got pissed. Every time he sees her eye he gets angry, angry at Marcus. _How could he do that? I thought we were friends._ But then Leo began to think about what Aeris had discussed with him the night earlier. _Maybe… maybe it's not his fault. Well it definitely was his fault, but that he wasn't to blame_.

"Leo, you're staring off into space again." Aeris said, waving her hand in front of his face. "Don't do that. I think that you're having a stroke and I get excited only to be disappointed later."

Leo smiled at her, "Yeah yeah. Don't get too excited, I'm still here. What are you making." Leo asked, turning his attention towards the food.

"Breakfast." She replied simiply as she flipped a pancake and landed it back on the pan. Leo walked around her and stared at the pan.

"What kind of breakfast?"

"The kind of breakfast where if someone named Leo doesn't back the hell off of me before I burn myself will be killed by a knife through the skull."

Leo chuckled to himself. _Classic Aeris_, he thought to himself. He went to the fridge and got out some milk and poured himself a glass as well as Aeris. He sat down and waited eagerly for the food to be done.

Aeris had finally finished and she had his plate already made. She sat it down in front of him but then quickly snatched it back up.

"Um? Please?" Leo asked confused. Aeris shook her head, as she didn't explain what she wanted ahead of time.

"No, I want you to make yourself useful and go downstairs and get the mail. You can have your breakfast when you get back." Aeris walked over to the counter and placed his plate there. Leo grunted and walked out, grabbing his coat as he closed the door.

Aeris was almost done with her plate when Leo returned. "What's wrong? You get lost or something on the way back? Do I need to send you out with a map next time?"

Leo didn't reply but instead continued to stare at an envelope he held in his hand. Aeris noticed this and asked genuinely, "Who's that from?"

Leo looked up and handed her the letter and said, "Guess."

**Next chapter will be out tomorrow. Also it was very hard to keep Aeris and Leo in character this chapter, but I tried to put them back at the end of it.**


	15. The Tragic Truth Chapter fifteen

I don't have a whole lot of authors note today, other than I'm very tired. Well I'm gonna quit bitching and type. Here's chapter 15.

Chapter XV The Tragic Truth

Aeris took the envelope from Leo and looked down at it.

**From: Marcus**

**To: Aeris**

She sighed heavily as she tore into it, a little of her was pissed he was even in their apartment complex after what had happened but then again a little of her was relieved that he hadn't ran away. She found a letter inside and threw the original envelope into the trash. She looked it over and read it aloud so Leo could hear.

**Aeris, please come to the Concert House tonight at 9. Give me a chance. Also bring Leo as well…**

**Marcus**

She put the letter on the table and sat down. Leo immediately grabbed the letter and read it for himself, believing that maybe Aeris had missed a part but to his surprise, that was all that was on the letter.

"Can you believe this guy?" Leo said tossing the letter back onto the table. He looked up after a while when he noticed that Aeris hadn't said anything. Aeris just sat at the table and tapped her fingers on the table. "Aeris." Leo said, "Don't tell me you're seriously considering going to meet him, right?"

Aeris didn't answer for a while, she seemed to be thinking over her answer very carefully. She finally looked up at Leo and said, "I know what you're thinking Leo. Yes he hit me, but he was also a very good friend before that. If it were who hit me then I would have given you a chance."

Leo looked down at his feet. _Does she really think that highly of me? That if I had hit her, she would still give me a chance? She has to like me… I have to tell her…but when? _

"Damn it Leo, you're doing that space staring shit again." Aeris said delivering a playful, but hard, punch to Leo's arm. She laughed and he returned it with a smile, rubbing his arm. "So you're ok with us going."

"Yeah, besides I want to see my handiwork." Leo said back to Aeris jokingly.

About 9 P.M the same day…

"Are you sure we had the correct date?" Leo asked seeing that the parking lot was empty, versus last time where parking was almost impossible.

"Yeah its today. Come on, theres still a few cars here. This has to be it." Aeris responded.

Aeris parked pretty much right next to the entrance and left her car. Aeris locked the car and began to walk to the front entrance.

"Ten bucks says it's locked." Leo said, slightly irritated that this seemed like a wild goose chase.

Aeris went to the front and pulled on the door and was surprised when it gave way and opened. She turned around and looked at Leo, "And just like that I'm ten dollars richer." She laughed quietly to herself.

"Not fair, we didn't shake or anything." Leo pleaded, not understanding that Aeris was joking with him.

They both went inside and found their way to the center stage with ease. They both stared at the door that separated the main lobby and the concert room. "Well here goes nothing." Aeris said, gripping the handles and flinging them open.

She walked in and saw no one else sitting in sits or any one on stage. As a matter of fact the curtain was down. Leo and Aeris walked towards the stage to inspect it and found nothing interesting. They began to turn around when music began to play. Both immediately turned around to notice that now the curtain was raising. But instead of the extreme metal music that they played originally, this time was softer. The curtain went all of the way up and the lights came on to reveal Marcus standing with a mic in his hand. He just stared at the floor, while his band behind him played their notes.

Marcus took a couple of steps forward and looked up at the two cats. A slight smile showed up on his face, happy that they had shown up. The first thing that Aeris thought was, _Damn Leo messed Marcus up_. There was a bandage over his nose and he also had a black eye, one that put Aeris' to shame.

He raised the mic to his mouth and sighed before he started.

"I'm drowning in the bottom of a bottle.

Running from a man I swore I'd never be.

No one ever has to face tomorrow.

But I'm the one that has to face me.

It's the demons I've created for myself.

The tragic truth.

It's hard for me to understand myself.

So it has to be hard as hell for you!"

Just as he finished that last verse he pointed towards Leo and Aeris. Then lights flashed and the music got heavier, much like the other song they had listened to.

"Are we born to be broken, sinners, and thieves?

Someone tell the heavens I'm ready to escape!

This is not what I wanted not what I need!

Take it all, tear it all, rip it all away!

I can't say the Devil made me do it.

I chose to be the one I am, the way I am today.

I wish there was but there's no way around it.

In the end I made the choice and will not die ashamed.

It's the voices screaming in my head.

The tragic truth.

It's hard for me to understand myself.

So it has to be hard as hell for you!

Are we born to be broken, sinners, and thieves?

Someone tell the heavens I'm ready to escape!

This is not what I wanted not what I need!

Take it all, tear it all, rip it all away!

Take it all, tear it all, take it all, tear it all away!"

A guitar solo came on and Marcus stepped towards his 'crowd' he brought up the mic to his mouth like he was going to say something but let it fall back down to his side as he waited for the solo to end.

"Are we born to be broken, sinners, and thieves?

Someone tell the heavens I'm ready to escape!

This is not what I wanted not what I need!

Take it all, tear it all, rip it all away!

Are we born to be broken, sinners, and thieves?

Someone tell the heavens I'm ready to escape!

This is not what I wanted not what I need!

Take it all, tear it all, rip it all away!

Take it all, tear it all, rip it all, tear it all!

Someone tell the heavens to take it all, tear it all away!"

Marcus screamed the last couple of words, he dropped the mic and jumped off of the stage. He looked at Aeris and began to walk towards her, and Aeris did the same. Leo also walked towards him, still not trusting him completely.

Marcus was in front of Aeris he opened his mouth and tried to speak but kept tripping over his own tongue. Eventually he managed to get the words out, "Aeris…I…"

Aeris cut him off by slapping him so hard across the face that her hand print was on his cheek instantly.

Marcus looked back up at her, holding his face, "Ok, I deserve that." He said. "I can't thank you enough for coming out tonight. Thank you for giving me a chance."

Aeris looked at him, she thought long and hard about what to say but found words to say eventually, "Uh huh. Everybody gets one." She held up her index finger, "Next time you slip up you'll be in the morgue."

Marcus held up his hands in his classic defensive gesture, "Trust me it won't." He smiled at her and looked at Leo. "Leo can I talk to you for a minute privately?" Marcus asked gesturing for him to walk over to the other side of the stage.

Leo was thrown off by his request. _What does he want to talk to me for?_ Leo looked at Aeris, who nodded in a trustful kind of way and with that he walked over to Marcus.

Marcus looked at him dead in the eyes, "Leo I want to thank you."

Leo raised an eyebrow in confusion. "For what? Beating the crap out of you? Yeah sure, any time man."

"Leo I'm serious, if it wasn't for you then I don't know if I would have been able to stop myself. I could've killed Aeris. If that had happened, then I would have become my father. I'd rather kill myself before I turn into him. But you… you were there, looking out for the both of us. You truly are the greatest friend I've ever had." Marcus held out his hand for Leo to shake it, and he was so happy when Leo gripped it.

"You're welcome." Leo said back, returning his serious tone. They exchanged smiles and Marcus patted Leo on the back.

They both began to walk back towards Aeris but Marcus stopped in his tracks, coughing up something fierce. Leo turned around to notice Marcus, almost on his knees coughing.

"You okay buddy?" He asked in a concerned voice. However he could see that he wasn't okay when Marcus removed his hand from his mouth to reveal blood on his hand and some around his mouth. "Holy shit! Are you okay?" Leo yelled.

Marcus tried to answer him but couldn't, he just fell over on the floor.

**Next chapter will more than likely be out tomorrow…. Oh yeah now for the legal crap again. The song in this chapter is "Tragic Truth." By Five Finger Death Punch. I still do not own the band their songs or their lyrics, blah blah blah.**


	16. Ascension Chapter sixteen

Alright, here is the second to last chapter in the story. Thank god! Not that I didn't have fun writing it but man its exhausting. I have a whole new respect for the others on this site that do this regularly. I'm just proud of myself that I didn't drop the story mid way through like some others on here who write just enough to get you sucked into the story just to find out that they got bored and decided to stop writing. And I promise that if (Actually, fuck the "if") when I write another fanfic that I will not drop it. Well here's chapter 16.

Chapter XVI Ascension

Marcus woke up in a hospital bed with some bandages on his head. _Ow! Christ my head hurts! What happened? _He opened his eyes a little but his vision was a little disoriented. He tried to sit up but he felt chest pain like he never had before. Like a hundred knives all stabbing into him. _Oh yeah, that. He tried to take a breath in but found it almost an impossible task. Jesus Christ, I can hardly breathe. Is this really where it's going to end? Me alone in a hospital bed? I didn't want to go out like this. I never wanted to go like this, alone. I thought I had more time._

A doctor walking towards him with a clipboard in his hand interrupted his thoughts. He was a fat one, my lord how he was obese. We looked over at Marcus a chuckled a bit. "Well look who woke up." He smiled at Marcus and turned and looked down at a pager and pressed a few buttons. After a moment Leo and Aeris busted through the door, almost toppling the fat cat doctor. Which Marcus couldn't imagine if they had knocked him over, seeing as how getting back up for him would have been an almost impossible task. The doctor just shook it off and walked out, leaving the three of them alone.

Aeries and Leo both looked down at Marcus laying in the bed with bandages around his head, Leo looked like he was about to say something but Aeris butted in.

"What happened?" She said, her tongue tripping over the words.

"I was a little tired so I thought I would take a nap. How did you get here so fast?" Marcus replied with a slight grin, trying to keep everyone's spirits up.

"This is serious Marcus. You coughed up blood and the next thing I know you're on the ground with your head split open." Aeris retorted, pointed at Marcus' bandage. "And to answer your other question, the doctor gave us both pagers so if anything happened then they would page us." She pulled out a pager, which had the hospital insignia on it.

Marcus didn't reply instantly but sighed heavily, which in turn triggered a coughing episode. He began to cough violently, coughing up more blood then he had recently done. _This isn't good; I need to get Aeris out of here. I still need to talk to Leo._

He removed his hand from his mouth to reveal a great amount of blood. Almost as if someone had punched him in the nose. Aeris and Leo jumped back at the sight of it. "Aeris." Marcus said grimly.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Can you go to the vending machine and get a Vanilla Coke? I have to get the taste of blood out of my mouth."

"Um no. You just coughed blood. I'm not going anywhere."

Marcus sighed again, "Look, I've been asleep for god knows how long, and I would really like a Vanilla Coke. Nothings going to happen and even then you have your pager." Marcus cursed himself for lying to her about it being all right.

Aeris stared at him for a while and reluctantly got up. "I'll be back." She said in an irritated tone. She slammed the door a little on her way out.

Marcus waited a little and turned to Leo "We need to talk." Marcus said in probably the most serious tone Leo had ever heard.

"Yeah sure." Leo said hesitantly, "But you do know that they don't make Vanilla Coke anymore?"

"Exactly." Marcus said trying to sit up but found it again extremely difficult. But he fought through it and got up, but was rewarded with more coughing. "Leo, are my clothes here somewhere?"

Leo nodded to him and pointed to a cabinet. "Leo, in my jacket theres an envelope that has a wax seal. Can you bring it to me?"

Leo found the request strange but did as told. He opened the bag containing all of his belongings and looked through his jacket pockets. True to his word, there was an envelope with a wax seal on it. Leo gripped it in his hand and returned it to Marcus.

Marcus held up his hand signifying that he didn't want it.

"But I thought you…" Leo started.

Marcus took in a deep breath, "Leo, inside that envelope are words that I haven't uttered in my entire life. Words that should have been repeated to me on a daily basis. Words that should have been said the second I was born. I… I want you to give it to Aeris."

Leo looked at him shocked, "Wait, what are you trying to say?" Leo asked, but he already knew where he was going with it.

"Leo, I'm surprised that I've made it as far as I did." Marcus went to take another breath but was greeted again with a coughing fit of blood. "Its very important that you give that to her. I wish I could have done it before, especially after the fight. But I never found the time. So it's up to you now."

Leo took out his pager, "It's not too late! I can get her in here now!" Leo was about to page her but Marcus stopped him.

"No, it would be too difficult." Marcus grabbed his hand. Leo was still starring at the pager, debating on whether to listen to Marcus or not. Eventually he dropped it on the table. "Thank you."

Leo looked back up at him, "Just don't give up. You can get through this. It's the 21st century. Theres got to be something to help you."

Marcus just smiled at him, "No, I've tried it all. Nothing worked, and nothing will. I'm just happy… happy that all of the pain is gone. That I won't hurt anymore." Marcus began to tear up a little, Leo did as well.

"But you're one of the greatest friends I've ever had. Please don't go." Leo said, almost begging.

"Its just death Leo." Marcus said, like a mother would say to a child trying to comfort them. "Everyone will go through this." Marcus smiled again, but fell back onto the bed. He felt everything getting numb. _Its time…_

"Leo, you're one of the greatest friends I've had as well. But I've got to go. We'll see each other again one day." Marcus held out his hand towards Leo, which in its self was a task. Leo smiled and shook it.

"I look forward to it." Leo said smiling still. A few tears began to fall off of his face. Marcus smiled back and closed his eyes, his hand shake was loose now. Leo took his hand and put it on his chest. "Good-bye, Marcus." He whispered.

The monitor made a loud flat line sound and doctors fled in and began CPR. Leo held his hand out indicating for them to stop. They looked at him, knowing that if they did revive him he would only live for another few minutes, they walked over to the monitor and turned it off. They all silently backed off and bowed their heads in respect.

Leo looked down at Marcus. He was sad that he was gone, truly he was, but he was happy that he wasn't hurting anymore. He smiled a little more and took the pager that was on the table and sent Aeris a message. "Its Marcus…he's gone."

**Last chapter tomorrow.**


	17. Liberation Chapter seventeen

**Well here it is. The final chapter, enjoy.**

**P.S. The song "Liberation" By In Flames, is a good song to listen to while you read this chapter.**

Chapter XVII Liberation

Aeris walked around the hospital with a coke in her hand. Now convinced that finding a Vanilla Coke would be an impossible task, she wondered down towards the cafeteria_. If I can just find someone with Vanilla flavor, I'll be in business_. She began to step into the elevator when he pager went off. She put the coke under her arm and looked down at it. What it read took her by surprise. _Gone? What do you mean gone? Did he leave? He was just there a minute ago, or does he mean…_

It only took her a couple of seconds to put together what Leo had meant by it. She dropped the coke and full throttle sprinted towards Marcus' room. She ran pushing doctors and patients out of her way. She even got a 'fuck you' from a young woman. Normally she would have turned around and taken her head off, but she didn't have time. Finally after what seemed like an hour, she showed up at Marcus' room.

However instead of seeing a lot of doctors frantically move around to save him, like she expected to, everyone was just standing around not doing anything. Leo turned around to notice Aeris in the door trying to catch her breath.

"Aeris… he just-" Leo started, finding the words hard to find.

Aeris jumped into the room and pushed Leo out of the way seeing that he wasn't doing anything. "Fucking move!" She shouted. "No, he can't be dead." She went over to his body and put her fingers on his neck to find a pulse, but found none.

"GOD DAMNIT!" She shouted. "NO! WAKE UP, YOU'RE STRONGER THAN THIS! WAKE UP RIGHT NOW GOD DAMNIT!" She shook Marcus' now lifeless body back and forth. She dropped him back to the bed and ripped off his shirt. She began to do CPR, while the doctors just began to back off, knowing it wouldn't do any good. She pressed down on his chest a few times. "COME ON YOU STUBBORN BASTARD! WAKE UP! YOU'VE GOT TO FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT THIS, NOW!" She stopped to give mouth to mouth for a few seconds. She let go of his nose and listened for a breath…None. She put her hands back on his chest. "COME ON! DON'T GIVE UP! YOU'VE NEVER GIVEN UP! FIGHT! FIGHT YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" She looked up at the doctors who were just staring at her. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING STANDING THERE! DO SOMETHING! DAMNIT, SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!" She screamed at the doctors, who just continued to bow their heads and walk out.

She flung the IV stand across the room, screaming curse words then went back to work again on Marcus. Leo couldn't take anymore of this, it was just crushing him. She was handling his death worse than he was. He walked to her and put his hand on her shoulder, trying to pull her back a little. "Aeris… come on. He's gone. Theres nothing else you can do."

Aeris shoved Leo off of her, sending Leo flying and landing into a chair nearby. "GET OFF ME!" She went back over to the body, barely hitting it now. "God damn it…" She brought her hand off of him and looked down at him. He was almost smiling, like he was just sleeping. She had stood there silently for about 5 minutes when Leo walked over to her.

"A- Aeris…?" He asked.

"…Yeah?" She replied, almost whispering it.

Leo had the envelope in his hand and walked over to her. "Before Marcus went, he wanted me to give this to you." He held up the envelope, finding it slightly difficult to give up the last thing that Marcus had given him before he died.

She turned around, tears streaming down her face. She took the envelope, staring at it for a minute. She looked it over about 4 times, thinking whether she should open it or not. She finally broke the wax seal and began to read it.

It must have been a short letter because Aeris got done reading it fairly quickly. But it was the craziest thing that Leo noticed when she moved the letter away from her face, she was smiling. Leo wanted to ask what was on the letter but resisted the urge to. _Marcus had his last words with me and those are probably his last words to her._

Aeris looked up smiling from the letter, she looked at Leo who was wearing a worried expression. She was going to say something but Leo beat her too it.

"Are you okay?" He said sounding concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine Leo, thanks." Aeris said back, her voice still low. She folded up the letter and stuffed it in her pocket. She went back over to Marcus one last time and put her hand on his chest. "Good-bye Marcus." She said and began to walk out of the room.

Leo followed her out of the room and stopped her. "Aeris are you really okay?" He asked with both of his hands on her shoulders. Aeris blushed slightly, moved by how much Leo cared for her. _Maybe he really does like me… like Marcus said… _She thought to herself.

Aeris looked at him back in the eyes and said "Yes I am. Thank you Leo. Thank you for being here with me." Leo took his hands off her shoulders and put them on his sides. He blushed slightly like she had.

"Yeah no problem." He said, stuttering a little. He turned around and began to walk away but was stopped by Aeris grabbing his hand. He looked down at it and looked up at Aeris, who was smiling and blushing a lot heavier now. Leo now knowing what was going on began to blush in return and his hands got sweaty. "A- Aeris… do…you…you." He began to stutter but Aeris stopped him.

"Shut up." She said smiling, gripping his hand a little tighter. "Come on, lets go home." Aeris and Leo began to walk down towards the exit of the hospital when Leo asked her something.

"So does this mean we are boyfriend girlfriend?" Leo asked shyly. Aeris was about to answer back when something caught her eye.

"Hold that thought." She said sternly. Aeris let go of Leo's hand and walked over to a young woman Leo had never seen before. When she got there, Aeris punched her in the face sending her flying back a few feet. "No one says 'fuck you' to me." Aeris said, looking down at the young woman. She walked back over to Leo and grabbed his hand again. "That's what will happen to you if you fuck this up." She said as they were walking away. Leo smiled to himself as he just got his answer.

**THE END! Man that was a long story. At least to me it was. Oh well, its good to be finally done with it *looks back at authors notes regarding chapter 10*…. FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU… (JK) I'll probably have the new revised chapter 10 out by tomorrow. I'll release a chapter titled UPDATE to let y'all know when its up. REVIEW!**


	18. Update READ ME

**Update, not a chapter.**

**I went ahead and redid chapter 10 today so I can get it off my mind. I have reuploaded it with the same name but its different I assure you**.


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